Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-05-07
Railroad News.

than what was related Yesterday morn
ing. The contractors or prospective
contractors on the grade are looking
over the ground. Negotiations for right.
of-way are quietly going on, and all
preliminary preparations are being
made. How soon the grading will be
commenced is still a matter Of conject-
ure, the date being fixed by tacit con-
sent on June !. Those who are in the
company's employ, who are supposed
to know definitely of the intentions of
the company, have nothing to say
farther than that the road is going on.
When and how far will not be told, and
cannot be found out with anything like
a certainty. A short distance beyond
Sturgis, is the terminus fixed by those
knowing ones who have set the time for
commencement on June /. at is tale
that is told" in Rapid Cite, and interest
in the subject has greatly wanned since
it has become positively certain that the
road was going on. The only thing else
that seems sure is that the road will
reach Sturgis in the fall-Journal, 8.
The Chicago & Northwestern, the
Fremont & Elkhorn Valley, the Wyo-
ming Central, the Douglas & Bnffalo
branch, the Cheyenne & Northern, the
Chicago, Burlington q Quincy, the B. 4
d NJ, the Chicago, Rock Island x Pa
| cific, the Chicago, Milwaukee & ST. Paul,
and the Colorado & Wyoming with
several branches) are all the roads
which have 80 far been completed 10
Douglas. A dozen or two more, how
ever, are among the possibilities.
Transcontinental trunk lines are now
done up in punches and offered in
Douglas at 10 cents bunch.
The laying Of the iren on the Wyo-
ming Central as far as Casper will open
up the oil country for development and
investment. There will undoubtedly
be great rush of people and capitalists
to that section, and if one-half the boom
is realized, a boom city which will be a
world beater will build up. The fact
that the town planted there will surely
be the end of the first division west of
Chadron, and alss probably the termi-
nus Of the road for another year, will do
its share of effectual booming.
Sturgis has nov caught the terminus"
fever. This disease has afflicted nearly
all the towns along the road and is un-
usually quite yiruent When Sturgis
convaleses it will be the turn Of Spear
fish or Minnesota All hail to the
terminus.
The contract for exte nsion Of the Elk
horn road north of Rapid, will include
the grade work, bridging and iron lay
ing, together with the furnishing of all
materials except the iron rails. The
contract about to be let is alluded to as
a very large contract, which would i'm
ply the construction Of road much
farther north and west than is popularity
supposed. G. T. Treat constructed last
season nearly 200 miles of grade, and
did it easily. fla contract is given ont
which Mr. Treat will call large one, it
will include more than 40 or 50 miles Of
road. There are many railroad men
who claim that this branch will lose no
time in reaching as far as Buffalo, Wyo-
ming.-Chadron Journal.
THE B. NJ.
There is no mistaking The intention
Of the b. and NJ Railroad company to
reach the Black Hills country as soon
as possible. Quietly it has been ex-
tending its north line until almost be-
fore people are prepared for it the an
nouncement comes that q contract for
the building Of an additional seventy
five miles has been let, and that such
extension will bring the track to an in
tersecton with the Fremont, Elkhorn
and Missouri Valley road in Northwest
ern Nebraska. The poiEt at which the
road will cross is not definitely known
outside the company, but it will in all
probability be not far from Chadron---
probably at Rushville or Hay Springs.
There is nothing in that country, taken
by itself, to cause rapid work of ex-
tension of the road. The object is
farther ahead, and there is good reason
to believe that the company will prose-
cute the work until the line reaches the
| Black Hills. Ii there is a region in the
west whose natural resources warrant
the building Of many railroads, that
region is the Black Hills. When we
contemplate the manner in which the
exclusively agricultural districts Of Iowa
and Nebraska are being gridironed
with railroads, We must conclude that a
district rich not alone in agricultural
resources, but in all the known miner
ais, lumber and all building materials
will not have long to wait for the bene-
fits arising from railroad competition.
From the present aspect Of railroad
affairs it is safe TO assume that the b.
and M. will be the first competitor OF
the Northwestern in this Rapid